Sheriff’s Office deputies receive new body worn cameras

On April 5, 2021, forty-three sworn deputies of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office will be receiving their new WatchGuard Vista body-worn camera (BWC) system. The state of the art BWC will provide benefits in four areas. They will increase transparency and accountability of the Office, and improve law enforcement legitimacy through increased confidence of the public during deputy-citizen contacts. Secondly, they will increase civility during encounters that may prevent certain situations from escalating to levels requiring the use of force and also improve interactions between deputies and citizens. Thirdly, the BWC will lead to a faster resolution of citizen complaints alleging deputy misconduct. The fourth benefit is that video captured by BWC will better document the elements of a crime and corroborate evidence presented by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, leading to higher conviction rates in court proceedings.

Photo / Warren County Sheriff’s Office

Arguably the best reason for deploying BWC systems was stated almost 200 years ago by Sir Robert Peel, the father of modern policing. Sir Robert second principle of law enforcement stated that “the ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police existence, actions, behavior and the ability of the police to secure and maintain public respect” (B. Chapman, National Institute of Justice Journal, 2018).

The WCSO will also be integrating three new WatchGuard 4RE high-resolution, in-car cameras into its vehicle fleet that interface with the BWC system. This provides the benefits of synching several deputies BWC with the ICC during emergency responses or critical incidents, providing for greater coverage of the incident. The new WCSO Body Worn Camera policy has met the approval of the Bureau of Justice review and has been identified as a model policy for other agencies. The policy includes constitutional safeguards addressing personal privacy concerns, limiting officer discretion on regarding when they can record, protecting videos from unauthorized access or editing, and more. The BWC are another tool for promoting fair and equal treatment under the law, and are recognized as not being a panacea for social injustices, and that continued community engagement with Warren County citizens and businesses must be sustained.